FtttG
Gheobhaidh mé bás ar an gcnoc seo.
User ID: 1175
But it wasn't zero.
This seems like hair-splitting. For most of the history of what we call Britain, the non-white population was as close to zero as made no difference, a rounding error. Until the mid-twentieth century, the majority of the British population could go their entire lives without encountering a single non-white person inside British borders.
I never used to hear about racial problems with minorities in Britain
By "racial problems with minorities", are you referring to racism experienced by minorities, or problems with racial minorities committing disproportionate numbers of crimes etc.? I'm not sure what timeframe "I never used to" covers, but in either case, it's not a new phenomenon.
For the former, the racially motivated murder of Stephen Lawrence in 1993 sent shockwaves throughout the UK, and was the subject of a government inquiry which concluded that the British police service was institutionally racist. (The handcuffing of Henry Nowak is ultimately downstream of recommendations made by said inquiry.) The murder was the impetus for new legislation surrounding double jeopardy in murder trials.
For the latter, last week we discussed Enoch Powell's (in)famous "rivers of blood" speech. He was sounding the alarm about the increased crime and societal dysfunction that appears to accompany mass immigration as early as 1968. While the grooming gangs scandal only really became common knowledge in the 2010s, it had been ongoing since the mid-90s.
FtttG
Gheobhaidh mé bás ar an gcnoc seo.
25d ago
No idea, but in Northern Ireland it means loyal to the crown.
Broadly: I think in the twentieth century we tore down a huge proportion of our most long-standing institutions, or dramatically scaled back the extent of their power and influence, or they collapsed under the weight of their own contradictions. Whatever the many and varied deficiencies of these institutions, they were load-bearing in the sense of providing a unified Western telos. Many people, I think, did not recognise that a proper society needs an orienting telos to function properly; or were naïve enough to think that, once we abolished all the old decrepit institutions which had systematically kept the truth from us, a new telos would manifest itself of its own accord. But a telos doesn't just happen, any more than a ship or a factory does: it has to be patiently grown, constructed and tended to. It's a fragile, delicate thing. I have a lot of criticisms of the Catholic Church, and in its modern diminished capacity it's a shadow of its former self, but I can't dispute that, at the peak of its power and influence in Ireland, it did provide a telos, an orienting principle, something to work towards. When people talk about the crisis of meaning in Western society, this is what they're getting at. Nothing the progressive coalition has offered as an alternative telos fits the bill ("diversity" is an instrumental goal, not a terminal one; "equality" is a relative and hence meaningless goal, likewise "inclusion"). I don't think modern Anglophone conservatism has much to offer in terms of a telos either. We have technological and economic wonders at our disposal, but are beset with indecision as to what to use them for. We built a spaceship without deciding where we wanted to go with it.
Either that, or the phones.
Well, I'm not sure if I accept the premise on two fronts. I'm not necessarily persuaded that narcissism is the primary root of all the problems in the West. However, I think the excesses of trans activism are a perfect example of a problem which is ultimately downstream of narcissism.
FtttG
Gheobhaidh mé bás ar an gcnoc seo.
25d ago
I've written multiple articles referring to TLP's ideas at length.
FtttG
Gheobhaidh mé bás ar an gcnoc seo.
25d ago
Just you. Belfast has a smaller total population than LA’s black population. In the 90s. I’m not expecting to see anything remotely on the scale of the ‘92 riots.
I don't think that's what @TitaniumButterfly meant. I think by "straws breaking the camel's back" he was referring to acts of shocking, indiscriminate violence committed by supposed refugees and asylum seekers, not to riots which ensue in response.
FtttG
Gheobhaidh mé bás ar an gcnoc seo.
25d ago
Thanks for the rundown. Curious which part of the country this guy was from. From the video I saw he looked black, rather than Arab.
FtttG
Gheobhaidh mé bás ar an gcnoc seo.
25d ago
Well put.
I think appeals not to set buses on fire would get a better reaction if they were accompanied by an acknowledgement somewhere, anywhere, that at least some of the protesters have grievances which are entirely legitimate. If Keir Starmer gave a public speech in which he sincerely stated "the Henry Nowak case has exposed serious, undeniable deficiencies in British policing which I'm committed to rectifying – but please don't assault police officers", I imagine quite a few protesters in Southampton would take that to heart. Likewise here.
But when the pleas for calm, collected responses are accompanied with no admissions of wrongdoing and barely concealed insinuations that the activists are far-right nutcases who've been manipulated by Elon Musk – I think it really amounts to pouring petrol on the fire. Adults do not like to be treated like naughty children.
FtttG
Gheobhaidh mé bás ar an gcnoc seo.
25d ago
I'll take your word for it. I only know a handful of people from up north, and it wouldn't surprise me if my secondary school teacher's perspective was unrepresentative or inaccurate. He was a bit of an oddball.
The real (Norn) Irony
Nice.
As far as I'm concerned writing and making music is a verb, not a noun
100%. I'm constantly reminded of TLP's admonition to describe oneself without using the word "am". It's a surprisingly difficult habit to break, but I think it's really useful in all spheres of one's self-conception. Instead of saying "I'm a musician" you ought to say "I released an album last year"; by the same token, instead of saying "I think I'm a pretty nice guy" you should enumerate nice things you've done recently.
(This can be taken arbitrarily far. "I think I'm pretty good in bed." "Oh yeah? Name three women you've made come.")
FtttG
Gheobhaidh mé bás ar an gcnoc seo.
25d ago
There's no need to be so hostile, Wikipedia reports that the country is 70% Arab.
They were beautiful to me.
I apologise, when I was talking about people who've never made anything beautiful or significant, I wasn't including you in that category. By virtue of actually finishing multiple novels you wrote I'd put you head and shoulders above the coulda-woulda-shouldas announcing that they would write something amazing if it wasn't for capitalism, maaaaan.
I admit there's a shade of stolen valour resentment to my line of thinking. I've been recording music as a hobby since I was fifteen years old, I've invested tens of thousands of hours (and a comparable amount of euros) into it, I've directed and edited music videos, I've played gigs, I've booked gigs, I've been through all the logistical and interpersonal headaches that come with organising bands. I did all this while completing my education and holding down full-time jobs. In spite of this, I don't "identify as" a musician. My Instagram handle is just my name and the year I was born. And it does really grate when I meet someone and their Instagram handle is "[forename][surname]music" and who habitually describes themselves as a musician despite the fact that they've never written (much less recorded) a song, never booked a gig, never been in a band and so on. Not that any such person has ever told me that they'd love to write music ("again"), but they're just too busy – but if they did, that would annoy me even more.
I've been no slouch in the creative writing department either, having written five novels/novellas since I was twelve (needless to say, the most recent one is the only one I will stand over), getting a handful of short stories published, winning a couple of awards. "[forename][surname]writer" isn't as common as "[forename][surname]music", but common enough that it still grates.
FtttG
Gheobhaidh mé bás ar an gcnoc seo.
25d ago
I studied history in secondary school and had an entire module about the Troubles. My teacher was himself a Northern Irish Protestant, and he noted to us the curious fact that, even though Unionists consider themselves British and want Northern Ireland to remain part of the UK, most of them tend to have a visceral hatred of English people. Admittedly, Northern Irish Protestants are disproportionately of Scottish descent, and even Scots who are opposed to Scottish independence tend not to be too keen on English people.
I don't necessarily see any conflict between "there are too many of the wrong sort of immigrant in this country and I'm willing to fight against the British military in order to get that point across, but I still think Northern Ireland should remain part of the UK." No different, really, from American militiamen who are willing to fight against the federal government (because they think it's been usurped from within) but nonetheless consider themselves fiercely patriotic Americans.
"If you'd like to try and make beautiful things like you did at university, but you're too tired because your job sucks out all your energy and creativity, then I guess it must suck to suck, loser"
Well, that's the thing under discussion, isn't it? It's one thing for an artist who once exhibited genuine talent and made things of value to complain that they don't have the energy to create after a full shift. I can understand that, and even sympathise.
What gets my back up is people who by their own admission have never created anything of value and have never displayed any evidence of artistic talent of any kind demanding that the state subsidise their livelihoods in spite of this.
In a morbid coincidence, this happened the same week that the trial for Riad Bouchaker began in Dublin. Bouchaker, you'll recall, was an Algerian man who stabbed a female schoolteacher and two of her pupils in Parnell Square, prompting a riot which brought the city centre to a standstill for one night. Bouchaker inflicted injuries on at least one of the pupils which were described as life-altering.
A MENA man, entirely without provocation, stabs a native citizen in a large Irish city and inflicts injuries serious enough to permanently change the course of their life. He's apprehended. The same week his trial begins, a different MENA man, entirely without provocation, stabs a native citizen in a large Irish city and inflicts injuries serious enough to permanently change the course of their life. He's apprehended. The same week his trial begins...
FtttG
Gheobhaidh mé bás ar an gcnoc seo.
25d ago
I thought the Sudanese were primarily Arab?
FtttG
Gheobhaidh mé bás ar an gcnoc seo.
25d ago
I'm not even criticising it from a compositional standpoint, I just think the level of technical skill it requires is beyond the reach of most untrained singers. I'm not even American but I've seen more than my fair share of "fail" videos where solo singers hit bum notes or have audible voice cracks when they get up into the higher register ("land of the free"). When sung by a singer who knows what they're doing it's a suitably stirring piece of music.
FtttG
Gheobhaidh mé bás ar an gcnoc seo.
25d ago
Well, you just mentioned Bryan Adams. Day ruined.
FtttG
Gheobhaidh mé bás ar an gcnoc seo.
25d ago
I had the same thought, although on reflection you do occasionally see comments with 80+ net upvotes.
FtttG
Gheobhaidh mé bás ar an gcnoc seo.
25d ago
It would be interesting if the provos and loyalists decide to put aside their differences in recognition of their common enemy (globohomo and third-world immigration imposed upon them from on high)
and then history repeats itself when Downing St sends in the troops to put down the insurrection, only this time they're shooting Protestants and Catholics.
Good post, and thanks for the shout out.
I'm reminded of Churchill's famous quip. Yes, liberal capitalist democracy is the worst system for enabling people to self-actualise and achieve their full potential – except for all the others that have been tried from time to time.
I'm also reminded of one of my favourite bon mots from Christopher Hitchens: "it's true that everyone has a book inside him, but in most cases, that's where it should stay." I'll occasionally encounter communists, socialists etc. bemoaning the fact that they don't have time/energy to create art under a capitalist system, and I can't help but think – maybe if you devoted the time you spend bemoaning this state of affairs to actually, you know, MAKING something, you'd have something to show for it. I can't imagine you'd spend a lot of time creating beautiful music or poetry even in the hypothetical post-revolutionary utopia you believe awaits you.
I saw a post on Instagram recently saying something to the effect of "it's so sad to think of all the great art we're missing out on because people have to work for a living". And my honest reaction was – probably not very much? For the best writers, musicians, artists etc. of the twentieth century, creating art was a compulsion, something they couldn't stop themselves from doing even if they wanted to, and yes, many of them worked full-time jobs and wrote/composed/painted in their spare time until they got something going. If that doesn't describe you, I'd hazard a guess that any art you would hypothetically create probably just isn't very good.
And of course there were people in the comments complaining about being told to paint/write/compose in their spare time, insisting that there's no way they can be expected to produce anything of value when they're exhausted after a long day in work. Again, I can't help but think – skill issue? If, after an eight-hour shift, you can't summon the willpower to pursue your creative ambition, it's hard for me to imagine that the fruits of this creative ambition would be of interest to anyone besides yourself. It rather sounds like your creative ambition isn't something you need to do (an all-consuming passion) but something you want to do (a hobby). Not saying that the best artists are necessarily those for whom creating art is an all-consuming passion, but the correlation is greater than zero.
I'm also find the entitlement on display kind of contemptible. The Medicis didn't hand out patronages to just anyone, but rather to artists who had already demonstrated technical skill and artistic achievement. The implicit demand that the public purse should subsidise the livelihoods of "artists" who by their own admission have never created anything of value (and may never do so) really rankles.
And on top of that, the people making these demands are privileged to live in an era in which it's never been cheaper, faster or more accessible for people to pursue their artistic passions. I'd be willing to concede that, say, sixty years ago, we were denied a non-negligible amount of legitimately interesting artwork owing to the fact that it was prohibitively expensive to make a movie or record an album. Nowadays, you can write a novel on your phone on the way to work. You can record an album on your laptop in your bedroom. Critically acclaimed award-winning films have been filmed on smartphones and edited on consumer laptops. Two of the top-grossing films of this week were directed by Zoomers who made names for themselves uploading content they produced themselves to YouTube. The barriers to entry have never been lower. Stop making excuses for why you can't make something, and MAKE SOMETHING.
FtttG
Gheobhaidh mé bás ar an gcnoc seo.
25d ago
I believe at least one other person in the thread hadn't heard of it, but you might be the first native English speaker who hadn't. That genuinely surprises me.
Orwell addressed this dilemma/paradox in "The Lion and the Unicorn". How can you be patriotic to the idea of something you're intending to completely alter from the ground up? The answer seems to be "it's tricky, but it can be done". Russians really did seem able to transplant/displace their patriotic fervour from Czarist Russia to the Soviet Union with minimal difficulty.
Love of one's country is just one of many kinds of love, all of which have to deal with this contradiction to a greater or lesser extent. Unlike what that one movie from the 70s would have us believe, love does not mean never having to say you're sorry. Saying you're sorry and promising to do better is a big part of love. Just because you love someone doesn't mean you can never criticise them or request that they change their behaviour. Sometimes this is "tough love" (i.e. because you love them, you hate to see them behaving in a self-destructive fashion), but sometimes it's not.
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